Wednesday, August 12, 2015

WHO MERS Update – Saudi Arabia Aug 12th

#10,407

The World Health Organization has released a lengthy roundup of 17 recent MERS cases reported out of Saudi Arabia (Aug. 3rd-9th). Three of the cases are female HCWs (1 pregnant, and the only one with direct contact with a MERS case), two are listed as having contact with lab confirmed cases, and as many as 10 patients may have acquired the virus while hospitalized for other conditions.

If you count today’sWeCanStopThis update, Riyadh has reported an additional 11 new cases in the 3 days since the cutoff date of this report.

Despite having three years experience dealing with the virus, and numerous edicts on infection control from the MOH, Saudi hospitals continue to struggle to prevent nosocomial outbreaks.

Between 3 and 9 August 2015, the National IHR Focal Point for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia notified WHO of 17 additional cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection, including 3 deaths.

Details of the cases

A 55-year-old, non-national, female health care worker from Riyadh developed symptoms on 5 August and was admitted to hospital on 6 August. The patient, who has no comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 8 August. She works in a hospital that has been experiencing a MERS-CoV outbreak. Currently, the patient is in stable condition in a negative pressure isolation room on a ward. Investigation of history of exposure to the MERS-CoV cases admitted to her hospital is ongoing. The patient has no history of exposure to other known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms.

A 60-year-old female from Riyadh city developed symptoms on 30 July and was admitted to a hospital in Riyadh on 6 August. The patient, who has comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 8 August. Currently, she is in stable condition in a negative pressure isolation room on a ward. Investigation of history of exposure to known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms is ongoing.

A 31-year-old female from Riyadh city developed symptoms on 30 July while admitted to hospital for an unrelated medical condition since 12 July. This hospital has been experiencing a MERS-CoV outbreak. The patient tested positive for MERS-CoV on 1 August. Currently, she is in stable condition in a negative pressure isolation room on a ward. Investigation of possible epidemiological links with the MERS-CoV cases admitted to her hospital or with shared health care workers is ongoing.

A 74-year-old male from Riyadh city, Riyadh Region developed symptoms on 5 August and was admitted to hospital on 6 August. The patient, who has comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 7 August. Currently, he is in stable condition in a negative pressure isolation room on a ward. The patient is a contact of a laboratory-confirmed MERS-CoV case (case n. 10 – see below). He has no history of exposure to other known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms.

A 50-year-old female from Riyadh city developed symptoms on 6 August and, on the same day, was admitted to a hospital that has been experiencing a MERS-CoV outbreak. The patient, who has comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 7 August. Currently, she is in stable condition in home isolation. The patient is a contact of a laboratory-confirmed MERS-CoV case (case n. 6 – see below). Investigation of history of exposure to other known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms is ongoing.

A 55-year-old male from Riyadh city developed symptoms on 23 July and, on 27 July, was admitted to a hospital that has been experiencing a MERS-CoV outbreak. The patient, who has comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 29 July. Currently, he is in critical condition admitted to ICU. Investigation of possible epidemiological links with MERS-CoV cases admitted to his hospital or with shared health care workers is ongoing. Investigation of history of exposure to other known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms is ongoing.

A 42-year-old male from Riyadh city developed symptoms on 1 August while admitted to hospital for an unrelated medical condition since 10 July. This hospital has been experiencing a MERS-CoV outbreak. The patient tested positive for MERS-CoV on 3 August. Currently, he is in critical condition in ICU. Investigation of possible epidemiological links with positive MERS-CoV cases admitted to his hospital or with shared health care workers is ongoing.

A 72-year-old female from Riyadh city developed symptoms on 2 August while admitted to hospital for an unrelated medical condition since 29 July. This hospital has been experiencing a MERS-CoV outbreak. The patient, who had comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 4 August and passed away on 9 August. Investigation of possible epidemiological links with MERS-CoV cases admitted to her hospital or with shared health care workers is ongoing. Investigation of history of exposure to other known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms is also ongoing.

A 29-year-old, non-national, female health care worker from Riyadh developed symptoms on 3 August and was admitted to hospital on the same day. The patient, who has no comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 4 August. She works in a hospital that has been experiencing a MERS-CoV outbreak. Currently, the patient is in stable condition in home isolation. Investigation of history of exposure to MERS-CoV cases admitted to her hospital is ongoing. The patient has no history of exposure to other known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms.

A 49-year-old male from Riyadh city developed symptoms on 24 July and was admitted to hospital on the same day. The patient, who has comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 2 August. Currently, he is in stable condition in a negative pressure isolation room on a ward. Investigation of history of exposure to known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms is ongoing.

A 38-year-old male from Riyadh city developed symptoms on 29 July and was admitted to hospital on 2 August. The patient, who has no comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 4 August. Currently, he is in critical condition in ICU. Investigation of history of exposure to the known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms is ongoing.

A 50-year-old male from Najran city developed symptoms on 29 July. On 2 August, the patient was admitted to hospital and tested positive for MERS-CoV. The patient, who has no comorbidities, works in an administrative role in a hospital. He has a history of frequent contact with camels and consumption of their raw milk. The patient has no history of exposure to other known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms. Currently, he is in stable condition in a negative pressure isolation room on a ward.

A 31-year-old, non-national, female health worker from Riyadh developed symptoms on 27 July and was admitted to hospital on the same day. The patient, who is pregnant with no comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 31 July. Currently, she is in critical condition in ICU. The patient works in a hospital that has been experiencing a MERS-CoV outbreak. Between 2 and 21 July, she provided care to a laboratory-confirmed MERS-CoV case (case n. 4 – see DON published on 24 July). Investigation of possible epidemiological links with other MERS-CoV cases admitted to the hospital is ongoing. The patient has no history of exposure to other known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms.

An 86-year-old male from Riyadh city developed symptoms on 25 July and, on 27 July, was admitted to a hospital that has been experiencing a MERS-CoV outbreak. The patient, who has comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 29 July. Currently, he is in critical condition in ICU. Investigation of history of exposure to known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms is ongoing.

A 78-year-old male from Riyadh city developed symptoms on 10 July and, on 11 July, was admitted to a hospital that has been experiencing a MERS-CoV outbreak. The patient, who had comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 28 July and passed away on 31 July. Investigation of possible epidemiological links with other MERS-CoV cases admitted to his hospital or with shared health care workers is ongoing. He had no history of exposure to other known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms.

A 75-year-old, non-national male from Riyadh city developed symptoms on 21 July while hospitalized for an unrelated medical condition since 15 July. This hospital has been experiencing a MERS-CoV outbreak. The patient, who had comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 27 July and passed away on 4 August. Investigation of possible epidemiological links with MERS-CoV cases admitted to his hospital or with shared health care workers is ongoing. The patient had no history of exposure to the other known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms.

A 53-year-old male from Riyadh city developed symptoms on 20 July and was admitted to hospital on the same day. This hospital has been experiencing a MERS-CoV outbreak. The patient, who has comorbidities, tested positive for MERS-CoV on 30 July. He is a relative of a laboratory-confirmed MERS-CoV case (case n. 5 – see DON published on 29 July). Investigation of history of exposure to other known risk factors in the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms is ongoing. Currently, the patient is in stable condition in a negative pressure isolation room on a ward.

Contact tracing of household and healthcare contacts is ongoing for these cases.

The National IHR Focal Point for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia also notified WHO of the death of 2 MERS-CoV cases that were reported in previous DONs on 6 August (case n. 1) and on 29 July (case n. 7).

Globally, since September 2012, WHO has been notified of 1,401 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV, including at least 500 related deaths.